IDOLATRY: 100 YEARS LATER, THE THREE FATIMA SEERS OF MARY ARE HEADING FOR SAINTHOOD IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The Vatican announced confirmed miracles for two of the shepherd children of Fatima
– In the centennial of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, two
shepherd children who witnessed the apparitions are one step closer to
canonization. After a second miracle was approved by Pope Francis, he
signed the decree for the cause of canonization for Blesseds Francisco
and Jacinta Marto Thursday. The third seer, Servant of God Lucia Santos,
who died in 2005, is also advancing in her cause for canonization, opened in 2008.
Francisco’s First Holy Communion was also his last, known in the
Catholic faith as Viaticum.
His sister Jacinta died the following year on February 20, also at age
10. Their cause for canonization has been open since 1946. Both
siblings were beatified on May 13, 1989 by Pope St. John Paul II, the
anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917.
insisted. “Make sacrifices for sinners. Many souls go to Hell, because
no one is willing to help them with sacrifice.”
Our Lady’s instructions, going without their lunch, wearing a rope with
knots, patiently enduring the ridicule of those who didn’t believe
them.
each month from May to October, with the exception of the August
apparition, which took place on August 19, the Feast of the Assumption.
This was owing to the children’s being prevented by the secularist
government, which was trying to force the children to deny the
apparitions. These attempts included death threats.
The
apparitions were preceded by a wave of anti-clerical laws associated
with the revolution that had taken place in Portugal in 1910. Our Lady
stated in her messages to the children that she desired consecration of
Russia to Her Immaculate Heart and the practice of the Five First Saturdays devotion. She said if her requests were not followed, Russia “will spread her errors throughout the world.” In November 1917, following the final apparition of Our Lady in October and the Miracle of the Sun, Russia fell to the Bolsheviks.
The First was the vision of Hell. The second was the the requests of
Communions of Reparation on five consecutive first Saturdays of the
month, and the Consecration of Russia. There were several consecrations
made by popes under varying circumstances, which has given rise to controversy over whether this part of Our Lady’s request has been fulfilled. The Third Secret was released in the year 2000, and has likewise been the subject of controversy.
The
date May 13 holds significance owing to being the date of the first
appearance of Our Lady of Fatima. It was also on this date in 1981 that
Pope St. John Paul II survived an assassination attempt where he was
shot four times. One bullet struck the Holy Father in the abdomen,
missing a major artery by a fraction of an inch. The pope would later
credit his survival to Our Lady, saying that her hand guided the
bullet’s path.
The name Fatima, the town in which the three children received Our
Lady’s messages, was named for the daughter of Mohammed, the founder of
Islam. This is from the period of Moorish occupation of Portugal and
Spain, which lasted from 711–1492. Some have speculated a connection
between the Fatima message and its emphasis on the Rosary with the
military victory over Muslim forces at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571,
which Pope Pius V credited to Our Lady of the Rosary.